Presentations in a variety of formats are sought in order to speak to and engage the general public as well as a scholarly audience on the subject of Nadia Boulanger, her life and influence, her contribution to musical pedagogy, and the work of her American students. International participation in this conference is anticipated, including the leaders of the major French archives of her material.
As a leading music pedagogue of the twentieth century, Nadia Boulanger made a sizeable impact on American music. Born into a musical family in 1887, Nadia Boulanger entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of ten. She placed second in the Prix de Rome competition in 1908 for her work La sirne. One of her earliest students, her sister Lili, was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome in 1913. After Lili's premature death in 1918, Nadia gave up composing for a life of teaching.
Boulanger taught at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris from 1920 to 1939, and at the Paris Conservatoire from 1946. In 1921 she began teaching at the American Conservatory at Fountainebleau, near Paris, and in 1950 was appointed director. Her earliest students included Aaron Copland, Roy Harris and Virgil Thomson. As her reputation grew, hundreds of Americans traveled to France to study harmony, counterpoint, analysis, composition and organ with her at the American Conservatory or at her apartment on the rue Ballu in Paris. Elliott Carter, David Diamond, Douglas Moore, Walter Piston, Louise Talma, Elie Siegmeister, Marc Blitzstein, Quincy Jones and Philip Glass are among her most prominent students.
This conference is only one component in a larger effort to celebrate and preserve the work of Nadia Boulanger on a permanent basis. An exhibition of Boulanger manuscripts, letters, and memorabilia is also being planned in conjunction with this meeting, the 25th anniversary year of her death.
All individual presentations should be limited to 25 minutes. Abstracts should be written so that they can be printed or typed on one 8-1/2 by 11 inch page, and include the author's name, address, telephone and institutional affiliation at the bottom of the page.
If live performances are proposed, a cassette or videotape of representative performing forces and repertories should be sent to accompany each separate proposal. For panels, the organizer should submit an abstract long enough to summarize the basic directions and contributions expected from the various participants (as well as the panel members' names and affiliations), and the preferred amount of time in which the session should take place.
All abstracts, proposals, CDs and cassettes must be received by January 16, 2003 and should be mailed (please do not submit proposals electronically) to:
T. Riis, Boulanger Symposium
University of Colorado at Boulder
UCB 301, College of Music
Boulder, CO 80309-0301
e-mail: amrc@colorado.edu
©2002 Boulanger America.
Queries to info@NadiaBoulanger.org